


An Unexpected Guest

by ImaKaraTabiHe



Category: Daredevil (TV), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Bullying, Christmas, Christmas Play, Friendship, Gift Fic, Heroes, High School, Sneaky Matt, Theatre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 13:59:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8982889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaKaraTabiHe/pseuds/ImaKaraTabiHe
Summary: Somehow (MJ -cough, cough-) Peter had been roped into participating in the Theatre Club's performance.  He's not expecting anyone to be there, but when he pulls back the curtain for a peek at the audience.. He gets a rather pleasant surprise.





	

Peter's not sure how he got roped into this. It seems like he blinked for a second.. And then he was in an elf costume. Why? Because for some dumb reason he got roped into taking part in MJ's theater performance. He wasn't even in Theater! How does this happen to him?

To top things off, it's not just any old Christmas play – it's called _The Spider that Saved Christmas_ featuring Spider-Man! _What._

It features Spider-Man and Peter's playing an elf, an elf that Spider-Man  _saves_ . Not to mention, who's playing Spider-Man? Flash Thompson. Life sucks.

Peter knows it's all in good faith, it's Christmas time. He also knows that if he backs out MJ will literally kick his butt. That or she'll take out those pictures of the time Peter had accidentally drank coke and rum – it looked just like coke,  _come on._ He can't be held responsible if it made him feel a bit toasty. Right?

Sighing, he reaches up and itches his forehead. Stupid, cheap elf hat. He hated this material with a passion. How he longed to be covered in his Spidey themed spandex. It might've felt hideous at first, but it had become like a second skin, something this hat would not become.

Peter's senses tingled as someone bumped into him, sending him sprawling on the backstage. “Watch yourself, dwarf,” Flash taunted, body covered in a cheaper version of Peter's spidey costume.

“It's an _elf_ , you dimwit,” Peter muttered, gritting his teeth.

“What'd you say, half-pint?” Flash growled, muscles flexing.

Peter rolled his eyes, rubbing his hands from where he caught himself  as he picked himself up. “Nothing Flash.” Peter eyed the Santa hat sloppily leaning off Flash's head, smirking to himself at the sight of Flash's “hat hair”. “Nice hair, Flash,” he stifled a laugh.

Flash narrowed his eyes at Peter and opened his mouth – most likely to yell or say something dumb, but this was Flash so why not yell something dumb?

“Peter!” MJ called. “We need to fix your costume just a touch more before the real deal.”

Peter groaned. MJ wanted everything to be perfect. She always did when it came to theater. “Coming, MJ,” Peter replied, giving one last glance at Flash. He looked bulkier than Spider-Man, maybe like he'd added some stuffing.

'But isn't bulk what everyone wants to see?' Peter sighed and sauntered over to MJ, grateful that Flash was letting him go, for now.

“Yeah, MJ?” Peter questioned as soon as he got over to her.

MJ smiled at him and winked. “Just missed you.” Peter grinned. Getting Peter away from Flash had been her plan all along. At least she recognized he was an antagonistic bully, even if she had dated him.

She was dressed in a very lovely dress with a petticoat, a white wig seamlessly making her appear to be part of Santa's family with mistletoe adoring it. MJ was playing Santa's daughter who was asking Spider-Man for help saving her father from super villains who wanted to keep all the presents to themselves.

Peter wasn't sure how he felt about playing the elf that simply accompanies MJ everywhere and cheers her on when “Spider-Man” kisses her after saving Santa. He wasn't in love with her or anything. There was just something about playing a side character where your alter-ego was played by someone that bullies your civilian self that made things.. a bit embarrassing.

“Thanks, MJ,” Petter murmured to her. “You look amazing.” She beamed at him, pleased.

“Is Aunt May coming?” she questioned, fluffing her hair a little on the side.

Peter shook his head, heart clenching. “She had to work tonight,” he told her. Peter had wanted his aunt to come and see it. It's not like he liked his role particularly, but he knew she would've been “tickled pink” to see this play. She always did enjoy Christmas plays.

MJ frowned. “That's too bad.”

Peter shrugged, pretending like he didn't care, but he did. He wanted her to be there. She was all he had left. For her, he didn't care if he looked or felt like an idiot in this costume. He just wanted to make her proud.

“Alright people, ten minutes until curtains up!”

“Oh! Go make sure everything's ready,” MJ encouraged him, waving him away.

“I don't think any more sparkles are going to make things better, MJ,” he teased.

MJ narrowed her eyes at him and pointed towards backstage. “Go, mister.”

Peter raised his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Going. See you on stage, Miss Claus.” He crept away, carefully.

He waited until MJ had disappeared to be sure that her make-up was on point, but it was. It always was. Peter sighed again and, on tip toes, approached the curtain separating the stage from the audience. Very slowly, he peeled back the curtain from the side and peeked out.

'What are you doing, Parker. It's not like there's anyone here to see you,' he chided himself.

Peter was about to release the curtain when a glimmer of red light caught his eye. He frowned, curious. No danger, so what was it? Following the light, he found the familiar face of someone he most definitely wasn't expecting to see.

“Matt?” he whispered, voice full of hesitant hope.

Matt's lips curved in a smile and he lifted his hand up, waving it towards Peter.

“You're here!” he kept his voice low, excitement straining his control. “Why? How??” Matt just pointed at him with that same smile.

'He's here.. for me?' Peter wondered.

Peter's eyes focused on Matt's mouth as he opened it and mouthed: _Good luck._

He bit his lip, grin threatening to break his face. 'Oh my gosh. _The Devil of Hell's Kitchen_ came to see me in a Christmas play!?' It was almost too good to be too, and too amazing to believe, but there Matt was.

Matt's head tilted to the side and he mouthed: _Time._

Peter frowned, confused for a moment before he realized it was time to begin the play. “Oh.” Matt chuckled. “I better get going,” he said mostly to himself as he let the curtain fall and turned away.

“Wait,” he thought out loud, pulling back the curtain and looking at Matt again. “Be here after?” Peter asked, trying not to wish. Matt nodded, features gentle.

Peter grinned, shoulders feeling lighter. He could do this for Matt. It's not like Matt was going to be able to see how ridiculous he looked. Yeah, he could do this. (Of course, with MJ and those pictures.. he kind of had to, but still.)

“Places everyone!”

Smiling, Peter got into position. 'C'mon Spidey. You fight crime at night, the least you can do is pretend to be an elf for an hour,' he told himself, puffing his chest out. He ignored Flash's scoff, and, as the curtains rose, the play began.

The play went off without a hitch. Mostly. He did happen to subtly dodge some fluffed up attempted hits from Flash. That guy was always trying to make him look stupid, but Peter wasn't having any of that. This was a Christmas play. Who ruined a Christmas play? So he fluidly dodged, remaining in character, and before he knew it, “Spider-Man” was kissing “Mary Claus” and the play was over.

He sighed, relieved that he'd managed to make it through the play without getting in Flash's way, though the guy did try. The applause did feel exhilarating. It wasn't for him, but how often did Spider-Man get applause instead of calls for his arrest? Not often, so he'd treasure it for the moment.

“Peter!”

A girl in his class, Kellie, called. “Yeah?” he responded, pulling the itchy elf hat off his head, sweat matting his bangs to his forehead.

“Your friend, Matt, is waiting on you,” Kellie told him, her own elf hat in her hand as he ran her free hand through her short brown hair.

“Thanks Kellie,” Peter said, smiling at her. “You did an amazing job.”

Kellie grinned, shrugging. “I'm glad it's done. Now I can get back to that paper for Bio.” Peter groaned. He still needed to start that darn thing. She chuckled at him.

“Where ya goin', Parker?” Flash questioned, haughtily, mask gripped in his fist. He was so irritating. Peter really wanted to ask him if he really was a fan of Spider-Man or not, because the way he acted, he should've been more of a Sinister Six fan. - Okay, maybe that was a bit too insulting, but the guy serious had issues.

“It's none of your business, Flash,” Peter huffed in frustration. Of course, Flash never liked having anyone push back at him – unless they were a “sexy girl”.

“Who cares, Parker? You almost tripped me up on stage,” Flash hissed, eyes narrowing.

Peter really wanted to roll his eyes, but he knew he'd get decked for it. “No,” Peter replied, trying to sound calm, “that was you trying to elbow me and missing. I can't be blamed for your clumsiness.”

Flash gritted his teeth, fury blazing his eyes as he stepped closer to Peter. “Why you..”

“Hey!” Kellie stepped in front of Peter, hands on her hips and frowning. “What's your problem, Flash? Peter's done nothing wrong. It's your fault our play was almost ruined.”

“It's Parker who almost ruined it, and I'm going to make sure he knows never to do it again,” Flash bit out, muscles tense.

Peter winced as he saw Kellie's shoulders straighten. “Did you just threaten my classmate in front of me?” Oh, Kellie was not going to go easy on him. Flash should've really known better than to go up against her. When she got mad or passionate about something, it was easier to either help her or get out of her way.

Flash blinked, confused at the sudden change in atmosphere. “What?” he questioned, dumbly.

“I asked if you just threatened Peter in front of me,” Kellie stated, frowning dangerously.

“Um..” Flash looked at Peter then back at Kellie, body started to curl instinctively away from her. “No?”

“You don't sound very sure.” Kellie eyed him kind of like she was eying an essay she was about to kill. She could do it too. Kellie always made killer grades in English.

“No,” Flash ground out, glaring at Peter like this was somehow his fault. Peter couldn't fix his haughty attitude, thank you very much.

Kellie looked unconvinced, but took a breath, letting her features smooth over. “Peter,” she said gently, looking at him, “your friend is waiting for you at the bottom of the left stairs.”

Peter smiled brightly at her. “Thanks, Kellie!” They may not have been friends, but they'd certainly bonded over ways to write professionally (or scientifically professionally when it came to Peter). She patted his shoulder.

“See you later, Peter.”

Peter slipped away from Flash, jogging over to the House right. He chuckled when he looked back at saw Kellie glaring at Flash, hands on her hips. She towered over him despite their height differences. She was one of a kind.

“Matt.” Peter positively beamed as he stumbled down the steps in his excitement. Matt smiled, politely and nodded his head at Peter.

“Peter.”

“You came! I didn't- How did you- Why?” Peter stuttered, face cracking from his happy smile.

Matt grinned. 'Devil,' Peter thought with a frown. The lawyer chuckled as if he knew exactly what Peter had thought. Sheepishly, Peter smiled.

“I heard you one night before we met going over lines. You were also cursing your luck to have been 'dragged' into it,” Matt explained. He tilted his head to the side, amused. “You also might've punched a wall pretending it was your violent friend over there.”

Peter bit his lip, red tainting his cheeks with embarrassment. “Um..” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Oops?”

Matt shook his head with a fond smile on his face. “You did a good job.” Peter gave himself a mental pat on the back. “Especially dodging those pointed attacks.” Peter sighed, suddenly exhausted.

It had taken a lot out of him to keep from getting hit and knocked down on stage. Flash was a jerk. He had kept trying to hurt/embarrass Peter on stage. MJ would've had his head if he'd succeeded – the stage was her life after all.

“Yeah, he's..” Peter searched for the right words. “..not nice.”

Matt raised an eyebrow, face clearly saying _'Obviously.'_ Peter shrugged, because what else was he supposed to say? Matt knew he had to keep his strength and abilities under wraps. Heck, the guy understood it and could easily relate.

“Would you like to grab a bite to eat?” Matt questioned, throwing Peter momentarily off track.

“Um, yeah,” Peter replied, stumbling over his words. “Sounds great.” Peter's stomach growled in emphasis.

Matt began walking across the empty aisle between the stage and the front row, making his way over to the other side of the auditorium as Peter followed, confused. Why would Matt go out of his way to exit the auditorium? It would've been easier to just go out the closer exit, but no, he was heading to the opposite exit.

Peter didn't stay confused for long as Flash started down the steps on the House left. Just as he reached the bottom stair, Matt's cane flung itself in his path and Flash fell forward. Peter was stuck between the hilarity of the situation and the absolute horror of his luck.

But.. wait. 'Is Matt _smiling?'_ Peter thought in astonishment, eyes trained on the subtle upturn of his blind friend's lips. Then it hit him. Peter sucked in a huge breath. It was _on purpose._ Holy crap.

“Terribly sorry,” Matt said, adopting a clumsy persona and putting on an apologetic face as Flash stood himself up.

“What the Hell, man!”

Matt apologized again, “Sorry. It's just a bit hard to 'see' where I'm going sometimes.” He waved his cane in the air causing Flash to duck to avoid a possible head injury.

“Jeez! It's fine!” Flash protested, hands over his head protectively. “It's fine. Just keep going.”

Flash glared at Peter as he followed Matt's exit. Peter had to keep himself from laughing at the sight of Flash's clear discomfort and slight fear.

“That. Was. Awesome!” Peter declared as soon as they stepped out onto the streets.

Matt grinned, devilishly. “Just don't tell Foggy, and the food's on me.” Peter swore that Foggy would never find out about how Matt used his 'disability' to fight crime as a no name civilian.

“You do good, Peter,” Matt told him later at a more upscale pizza restaurant, one of the few that Matt actually approved of. Peter looked at him, brows furrowing with confusion.

Matt merely smiled at Peter and took a sip of his coffee. “Merry Christmas, Spider-Man” Matt softly said as carolers walked outside the window.

Peter smiled back, still a tad confused, but feeling grateful nonetheless. “Merry Christmas, my Devilish friend.”

**Author's Note:**

> Gifted to one of my amazing friends as part of her Christmas present. Merry Christmas Bells!
> 
> Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday/weekend. :)
> 
> tumblr: tabihe


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